I read that gay men and straight women have the same mind and straight men and lesbian women have the same mind. For those of us who are transgender and identify as gay or lesbian. I don't really get what this means? My brains would be more like a man's but I don't feel like a man. So I'm kind of confused is it realistic to identify as lesbian if you're male? I mean since lesbians seem to have the same type of brain as men do? I personally don't feel like a man nor am I attracted to girls in a heterosexual sense. So this is confusing to me?

That idea is over simplified. Trans people seem to have many of the same brain structures as people if their identified gender, however, those structures don't seem to include whatever attracts you to a specific gender, so you can be FtM or MtF and gay or straight or anything in between on both axis. Anyway, it's just a theory. Differences have been noted in post mortem brain studies, but the differences are too small to show up on non invasive tests like MRIs or x-rays. We really don't know enough about how the bring works yet.

Nevertheless, pretty sure mine is mostly female and mostly lesbian.

Quote from: Blondie14 on January 01, 2015, 08:15:43 AM
I read that gay men and straight women have the same mind and straight men and lesbian women have the same mind. For those of us who are transgender and identify as gay or lesbian. I don't really get what this means? My brains would be more like a man's but I don't feel like a man. So I'm kind of confused is it realistic to identify as lesbian if you're male? I mean since lesbians seem to have the same type of brain as men do? I personally don't feel like a man nor am I attracted to girls in a heterosexual sense. So this is confusing to me?

Whatever you read was not actually correct and it is out dated. look into reading stuff from trans authors. gender and sexuality come from different parts of the brain. Women who are homosexual still have female brains men who are gay also have male brains. It is very common to be gay and trans at the same time. I am a trans women but I prefer women. Its not weird. There is many more queer sexualities in the trans community then there are in the cis one, at least more trans people are willing to admit they are queer. So it is perfectly normal and liking women doesn't make you have a male brain.

Quote from: PPatrice on January 01, 2015, 06:59:47 PM
Well, it's been awhile since I was in the know re: such things, but used to be the homosexual & heterosexual thing was referenced to natal sex/gender (i.e., what was recorded on the birth certificate when one was born).  I always thought said practice was merely one of convention, convention necessitated because things get kinda confusing when one throws GD/GID into the mix.  For example, if one was assigned as "male" on the original birth certificate & one found oneself sexually attracted to women then one was considered to be heterosexual, and that label was retained even if one had GRS and even if one had their gender markers legally changed on their personal documents.

However, times & conventions can often change. I don't know if the same convention is currently being utilized in the professional literature.

Ive never met at trans women who used this method to label there own sexual orientation. I find it offensive that if some one else where to call me straight for liking women. It shows that they don't actually see me as a women. I know the state goes by whatever is on your birth certificate and id. But who can say that the state can label what sexual orientation I belong to. Im a lesbian through and through.

Well may or may not be related, but while researching things I read that transgender men and women have the brain structure of the gender they identify as. This might be outdated, I don't know, as I read it in Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health

Quote from: LatrellHK on January 01, 2015, 10:36:05 PM
Well may or may not be related, but while researching things I read that transgender men and women have the brain structure of the gender they identify as. This might be outdated, I don't know, as I read it in Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health

I don't think it would be considered outdated. The article is only a few years old (2011). I'd post the links, but it looks like i might be breaking the rules by doing so. If you google Transgender Brain Scan, it's the article from Newscientist's website. There are links to the research journals included in the article. If anyone's looking for it and having difficulty, I'm happy to send a PM with the source.

Quote from: Blondie14 on January 01, 2015, 08:15:43 AM
I read that gay men and straight women have the same mind and straight men and lesbian women have the same mind. For those of us who are transgender and identify as gay or lesbian. I don't really get what this means? My brains would be more like a man's but I don't feel like a man. So I'm kind of confused is it realistic to identify as lesbian if you're male? I mean since lesbians seem to have the same type of brain as men do? I personally don't feel like a man nor am I attracted to girls in a heterosexual sense. So this is confusing to me?

Do you have the source for this article? could you PM ? If not, is there a way to get a additional context to having the "same mind" ?

No brain scan can tell you what gender you are. Your gender is decided before any brain scan is given. Any method that attempted to correlate a transgender brain to a male or female brain can only ever be deeply flawed and prejudiced.

They acquire the samples that they would be checking you against by taking their genders for granted, so that no matter what any of the women's brains were like, how different they were from other women's brains, the researchers would say "oh, I guess women's brains can be like that too", and add it to the calculated variance that makes up their "female" category, but if a transgender person's brain differs from the samples, then this is apparently evidence of a lack of correlation, or evidence that they aren't female... but if you were already, pre-determined to be female without having to pass any brains scans, then this would be the opposite, and evidence of what a female brain is like, regardless of correlation, or similarity to the brains of others.

You may be referring to the work of the Dutch group, lead by Baudewijntje PC Kreukels, and one of her team Sabine Hannema. Possibly the leading group looking at transgender brains by MRI. The work presented at Bangkok conference was very interesting. There was a structural and brain functioning difference in transgender adolescents that reflected the gender they identified with. Hence MtF structurally were similar to FAAB and FtM to MAAB.

The sexuality side of it came from the response to pheromones as detected by MRI. Sabine Hennema used a pheromone called androstadienone in a blinded study so the volunteers did not know what they were sniffing. This is a sex pheromone secreted mainly by males in urine and sweat. In young trans adolescents, MtF and FAAB had similar areas of the brain light up and this was opposite to FtM and MAAB (who were again similar to each other).  When older adolescents were examined, and these groups could assign their sexual orientation (the younger did not assign). The brain areas in FAAB, MtF and gay males had similar areas respond to each other, as did MAAB, FtM and lesbian females.
The data was by no means absolute and was in 'trends'.

Interestingly Sabine had a canister of androstadienone which was passed around in the talk so we could all have a sniff. I was sitting with two colleagues, a gay guy and a straight guy (I'm straight female), after a sniff, we couldn't resist it and both my Gay friend and I whispered to our straight friend; do you mind if we jump your bones? 

Quote from: Cindy on January 02, 2015, 12:36:15 AM
Interestingly Sabine had a canister of androstadienone which was passed around in the talk so we could all have a sniff. I was sitting with two colleagues, a gay guy and a straight guy (I'm straight female), after a sniff, we couldn't resist it and both my Gay friend and I whispered to our straight friend; do you mind if we jump your bones? 

Omg! This is the funniest thing I've read tonight! 

Just google lesbians have similar brains to straight men and gay men have similar brains to straight women.

It is a lot of studies on pheromones hormones and reactions etc to stuff.

Quote from: Blondie14 on January 02, 2015, 06:02:33 AM
Just google lesbians have similar brains to straight men and gay men have similar brains to straight women.

It is a lot of studies on pheromones hormones and reactions etc to stuff.

It's probably similar in the area of attraction but it had literally nothing to do with ones gender.  It makes sense that the hormones and pheromones of gay men and straight women would react similarly when an a attractive man is seen by both.  But im guessing this area of the brain has nothing to do with the area that recognizes ones gender.

Quote from: amber roskamp on January 02, 2015, 09:47:09 AM
It's probably similar in the area of attraction but it had literally nothing to do with ones gender.  It makes sense that the hormones and pheromones of gay men and straight women would react similarly when an a attractive man is seen by both.  But im guessing this area of the brain has nothing to do with the area that recognizes ones gender.

I also read lesbians and straight are more centered on the left side of the brain but it turns out that's a myth lol. Left and right brain that is.

Well, I am transgender and gay, my boyfriend is transgender and gay, so we are both trans and gay.

In my opinion at least,  the simple answer is -

Cis people can be gay / straight / other , trans people can be gay / straight / other , same as cis people can enjoy heavy metal and trans people can enjoy heavy metal.

I see no difference between trans and cis people other than trans people got to their gender (outwardly expressed) via the scenic route

I am a woman who likes women, that means I am a lot different than a straight man.... Like I don't see many lesbians being too similar to straight men or for that matter gay men being similar to women, I don't know the specifics of which the op refered to but like gender and sexuality seem to be rather distinct and separate to me.

Quote from: Matthew on January 02, 2015, 10:46:21 AM

Cis people can be gay / straight / other , trans people can be gay / straight / other , same as cis people can enjoy heavy metal and trans people can enjoy heavy metal.

Awesome.  Trans / other / metalhead here...  \m/ (-|-) \m/

I think my answer to the question would be yes. Trying not to put too many labels on what I feel, but at the moment (currently still living in a female body), I'd say that my main attractions are toward women who wouldn't really identify as lesbian, and men who happen not to be straight. 

Before I started trying to figure this whole thing out I'd had two long term boyfriends; both later came out as either gay or bi. Looking back, and as much as I hate gender roles, if we'd described the relationship to an outsider I'm pretty sure they would have assumed we were both men. How we interacted, had sex etc.

The woman I've been in a long term relationship with wasn't out at all, which caused its own problems. Again, describing it to an outsider, it probably would have sounded like a man and a woman. Just the way we were and what we did together.

I'm totally out as someone who has relationships with woman now, and can't really remember the last time I was attracted to a straight man, but I can't describe myself as a lesbian. I'm just not. In my head I'm a pansexual man.

Y'all just gave me research ideas